On Wednesday November 10, 2010, the St. Maarten Youth Council Association hosted the 2010 Youth Council Awards under the theme ‘Embracing the Future with a Spirit of Excellence’. Forty four young people were honoured during the evening’s festivities under two awards schemes: The St. Maarten Outstanding Youth Awards (SMOYA) and the International Students Day Academic Achievement Awards (ISDAAA).
SMOYAs were presented in eight categories: Academic Improvement, Community, Cultural, Environment, Music, Personal Improvement, Scientific/Technological Development and Sports. Nikhil Punjabi received the SMOYA for Academic Improvement, while Malaika Friday was the runner-up. The SMOYA Community award went to Kilee Mercuur for her tireless work with several organizations including Kids Foundation, Animal Welfare and SIMARC. Gifted dancer Sabrine Sinclair edged out Heston Philbert for the SMOYA Cultural Award.
In the Environment category, future archaeologist Christopher Velasquez was victorious over Nisha Vanjani. In the tightly contested Music Category, versatile musician Hesroy Philbert usurped 2009 SMOYA winner Chardonnay Martes and contender Denzel Richardson. As an indication of the versatility of the nominees, musician Denzel Richardson missed the awards ceremony as he was participating in baseball tryouts in the Dominican Republic.
The SMOYA for Personal Improvement was awarded to Dionisse Carti, whose inspirational story of rising above your circumstances to achieve captivated the audience. Two-time St. Maarten Science Fair winner, Tamara Reid, edged out Riddhi Samtani for the SMOYA in Scientific/Technological Development. Both Tamara and Riddhi also received Academic Achievement Awards.
The SMOYA for Sports featured three very talented athletes: multi-sport athletes Chesley Augustine and Edwin der Weer Jr., and sailor Rhone Findlay. The SMOYA was awarded to Rhone Findlay for his successful representation of St. Maarten in local, regional and international sailing competitions. 14 year old Rhone Findlay holds the record as the first and youngest person to circumnavigate the island of St. Martin in an 8foot Optimist class single-handed dinghy.
The event was ably chaired by 2009 SMOYA Winner Janushka Mukhi and past Academic Achievement Award recipient Sahaira Hughes. Former Youth Council President and Member of Parliament, the Honourable Jules James assisted with the presentation of awards. Entertainment for the evening was provided by the SMOYA finalists. Cultural runner-up Heston Philbert sang the St. Martin song, with musical performances by Music runner-up Chardonnay Martes and Music winner Hesroy Philbert on the violin. Cultural winner Sabrine Sinclair entertained the audience with a beautiful dance to ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, to end the evening.
The St. Maarten Youth Council Association extends congratulations to all the awardees and expresses heartfelt thanks to all who made the event possible.